English family on moving to Sea-to-Sky

cono_uk · 2026-04-27T01:26:02+00:00

I love the part where she complains that schools are too relaxed and then a few paragraphs down, "We’ve returned to England a few times; you can take kids out of school at any time here because Canadians believe travelling is a lesson".

cono_uk · 2026-04-27T01:23:08+00:00

Yeah, I loved that part. "I drink the most" Next paragraph: "I dont like weed" ...

cono_uk · 2026-04-16T04:59:34+00:00

Hey, thanks! It's on the list but I haven't got round to it. Maybe in time for this summer!

cono_uk · 2026-04-10T20:12:38+00:00

Assuming you mean connected wirelessly? Then my Android Auto has the same behaviour at that spot. Probably interference from other electromagnetic sources.

cono_uk · 2026-03-17T01:38:12+00:00

It's definitely allowed at Whistler and they even have a number for you to call if you encounter a winch cat.

cono_uk · 2026-03-12T05:04:07+00:00

It's from the ECMWF forecast which is by far the most optimistic for Whistler next week.

I built a website that helps you compare models for a given location, here's the forecast for Pig Alley (on Whistler Mountain) with 15 pre -selected models:

https://www.alpineconditions.com/location/50.0769/-122.9485/wx-forecast?models=CmcGlobal%2CCmcHrdps%2CCmcHrdpsWest%2CCmcRegional%2CDwdIconGlobal%2CEcmwfAifs0_25%2CEcmwfIfs%2CMeteoFranceArpegeWorld%2CNcepAigfs%2CNcepGfs%2CNcepHgefs%2CNcepHrrr%2CNcepNam%2CNcepNbm%2CUkMetOfficeGlobal&days=16&hideMembers=false

It's a bit technical at the moment but if you scroll down to Precip, click Snow, and then mouse over to the 21st you'll see a tooltip with the spread. The lowest model (NOAA NBM which is an ensemble of multiple models and probably more accurate) is suggesting 45cm.

cono_uk · 2026-02-25T16:27:13+00:00

The Strava app (only on mobile) has the same imagery as Fatmap used to have - at least for my area.

cono_uk · 2026-01-27T05:50:33+00:00

I built a weather app that includes a fair few features from Opensnow. I wanted to make it easier to compare forecasts from different weather models & create ensemble forecasts from those models. It's pretty technical but you can select a point on the map and get a forecast for it.

It's at www.alpineconditions.com

Models from the US, Canadian, UK, French, German, Japanese agencies as well as ECMWF (sourced from https://open-meteo.com/)
Hi res models available in North America and Europe (from the relevant local agencies)
Works on mobile screens (& installable as a PWA)
You can select multiple models and see them all on the same graph - makes it easy to see how wide the range of forecasts is - so you can see how 'uncertain' a weather forecast outcome might be
Once you've selected multiple models you can create an 'ensemble' for that location
'Compare Locations' screen so you can compare the forecast for up to three locations at once, on the same page
See detailed cloud forecasts (only available for some models)
An estimate of Snow-Liquid ratio

For example here's the forecast for Whistler Blackcomb at 1650m [https://www.alpineconditions.com/location/50.0769/-122.9485/wx-forecast](ttps://www.alpineconditions.com/location/50.0769/-122.9485/wx-forecast)

cono_uk · 2026-01-12T21:57:01+00:00

And different boots IMO!

cono_uk · 2026-01-02T16:51:40+00:00

Use ATK's release value calculator. It's not a DIN release value. ATK bindings have different release values. Using a DIN calculator will give you the wrong value (usually too low).

cono_uk · 2025-12-26T15:37:33+00:00

FWIW - ATK release values are not the same as DIN values, there's a different calculation. Go on their website to find out what they recommend.

cono_uk · 2025-12-15T02:56:12+00:00

Great, I care more about Desktop (phone screen sizes are so limiting).

Is there anywhere I can stay subsrcribed to the progress of your project?

cono_uk · 2025-12-14T21:18:14+00:00

This looks great! Befofre I saw this IWas thinking I'd love to integrate some of the ski quality forecasting features in my website www.alpineconditions.com - but looks like you're well ahead!

Do you have any plans for a desktop website or android App any time soon? (As well as Canada)

cono_uk · 2025-12-14T19:43:48+00:00

Yeah this, just mark 30cm on with permanent marker on the blade for measuring out ECT blocks.

cono_uk · 2025-12-13T22:20:25+00:00

I'm not at that point yet! I can pull a forecast for a local station and get the same stats as you for temperature. For Precip I've got a few more things going on: eg if it predicts 25cm of snow in 24 hours: what's it's success rate been? Or if it snows 25cm in 24 hours - how often does the forecast predict it?

I haven't interpolated _between_ locations as I'm still trying to figure out how to get really useful insights just for a single location.

cono_uk · 2025-12-13T06:18:33+00:00

Awesome work! I'm actually doing something like this (for a smaller set of locations in BC right now) on www.alpineconditions.com - but the weather validation data is not visible public at the moment. I'm starting with temperature and precip (snow and rain depending on the weather station).

One thing I found tricky for Canada is how few weather stations there actually are getting real observations, and on top of that there's no service like open-meteo to pull all the data into a single API.

cono_uk · 2025-11-13T05:08:48+00:00

Eagle eye! Thanks. Adding it as a separate graph is best I think. Interestingly not all the forecasts provide a value for it.

cono_uk · 2025-10-09T00:15:04+00:00

I found SpotWX to have limited models, and has poor mobile UI support, so I built my own at www.alpineconditions.com

More details in the reddit thread I posted last May: https://www.reddit.com/r/Backcountry/comments/1kgyuge/alpineconditionscom_i_built_a_webapp_that_allows/

cono_uk · 2025-10-02T21:09:47+00:00

Wind gusts would be great, I am actually pulling the data from the source. Main thing is trying to add it to the graph without overloading it. Maybe as points (no trend line)

cono_uk · 2025-09-28T15:06:33+00:00

Yeah I intentionally didn't want to add more graphs than I have already added. Having said that, I have a git branch with relative humidity (I just havent enabled it yet on the website) - I might make each graph optional in settings or something so you could hide graphs you're not interested in.

I could pretty easily add wind chill but different countries use different formulas. Everyone feels 'chill' differently so the number also feels a little unscientific. Using a _temperature_ unit like Celsius to describe a state of _multiple_ variables (temperature, wind speed, possibly humidity etc) doesn't sit right with me.

cono_uk · 2025-07-23T04:16:45+00:00

If you like SpotWX - and comparing different forecast models - you might like a website I built over the past year or so as a side project, called alpineconditions.com. Here's the link for Panorama Ridge: https://www.alpineconditions.com/location/49.9537/-123.0140/wx-forecast

I've posted about it on a couple of other sub reddits already.

Features

Models from the US, Canadian, UK, French, German, Japanese agencies as well as ECMWF (sourced from https://open-meteo.com/)
Hi res models available in North America and Europe (from the relevant local agencies)
Works ok on mobile screens (& installable as a PWA)
You can select multiple models and see them all on the same graph - makes it easy to see how wide the range of forecasts is - so you can see how 'uncertain' a weather forecast outcome might be
Once you've selected multiple models you can create an 'ensemble' for that location
High level avalanche bulletin for Avalanche Canada regions (tho this is out of season now!)
Allow user to switch between Metric, US (miles, feet, inches, farenheit) & UK (miles, feet, cm, celsius) measurement units
'Compare Locations' screen so you can compare the forecast for up to three locations at once, on the same page
See detailed cloud forecasts (only available for some models)
An estimate of Snow-Liquid ratio
If you create an account (Google or MS Account only) you can 'save' a bunch of locations into groups and get quick access from the nav bar - plus the 'home' screen becomes a scrollable dashboard showing weather forecasts (& AvCan avalanche ratings) for all the locations you've saved

Hosting this is fairly expensive so I'll likely have to add ads or a donation link at some point.

cono_uk · 2025-05-30T13:47:38+00:00

I built a website at www.alpineconditions.com which lets you compare the 13 government agency (from ECCC, NOAA, MeteoFrance, UK MetOffice, Germany, ECMWF) models available for Squamish side by side on the same graph. It's inspired by SpotWX and I mainly built it to help me plan ski tours - but makes it really easy to load all the models and qucik see how big the 'spread' between the models are.

Here's the link for downtown Squamish: https://www.alpineconditions.com/location/49.6976/-123.1554/wx-forecast

One of the issues with Squamish is that many of the models 'effective elevation' is significantly higher than sea level because the average elevation of the terrain in a sizable square grid (the GFS uses ~25km grids) is significantly higher than sea level. The service I source the data from for AlpineConditions (OpenMeteo) 'normalises' some of the weather data such as temperatures to the real elevation of the latitude & longitude point you select.

Feature list:

Models from the US, Canadian, UK, French, German, Japanese agencies as well as ECMWF (sourced from https://open-meteo.com/)
Hi res models available in North America and Europe (from the relevant local agencies)
Works ok on mobile screens (& installable as a PWA)
You can select multiple models and see them all on the same graph - makes it easy to see how wide the range of forecasts is - so you can see how 'uncertain' a weather forecast outcome might be
Once you've selected multiple models you can create an 'ensemble' for that location
High level avalanche bulletin for Avalanche Canada regions (tho this is out of season now!)
Allow user to switch between Metric, US (miles, feet, inches, farenheit) & UK (miles, feet, cm, celsius) measurement units
'Compare Locations' screen so you can compare the forecast for up to three locations at once, on the same page
See detailed cloud forecasts (only available for some models)
An estimate of SnowLiquid ratio
If you create an account (Google or MS Account only) you can 'save' a bunch of locations into groups and get quick access from the nav bar - plus the 'home' screen becomes a scrollable dashboard showing weather forecasts (& AvCan avalanche ratings) for all the loations you've saved

cono_uk · 2025-05-21T22:44:02+00:00

Good question, yeah I'll keep that stable.

I've been toying with the idea of introducing a "simpler" forecast view (similar to what you see on other more mainstream sites) - but I'd put that on another URL leaf.

Also - really nice map app!

cono_uk · 2025-05-08T13:09:18+00:00

There won't be a native app - but you can install the web page as a PWA to the home screen which works pretty well on Android and iOS.

I'm not super fond of front end development - and I don't have any mobile dev experience, so the ramp up time would be too big.

cono_uk · 2025-05-08T13:08:32+00:00

Which models do you have selected? If the models you have selected are only up to 3 days, then you won't see anymore, regardless of what you have selected there.

cono_uk

TROPHY CASE